Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about English grammar and usage — most of which I promptly forgot. And not for lack of use. Every day I apply what I’ve learned to catch and fix writers’ mistakes.

One of the coolest things about the English language is how flexible it is. Verbs can be used as nouns. Adjectives can pinch hit for adverbs. Prepositions can fill in for conjunctions. Nouns can be ...

Nouns are a class of words that include people, places, things, or ideas. Common nouns refer to ordinary things, like “car” or “school.” Proper nouns are names of particular people, places, or things, ...